The Daily: US Bank to Issue Crypto Cards, Coinbase Updates Wallet

In Sunday’s edition of The Daily, we cover the upcoming launch of a new Visa debit card that will allow users in the U.S. to spend cryptocurrencies through conversion to fiat. We also mention the updated Coinbase wallet and take a look at an educational course that’s going to reward students with digital coins.

Crypto.com to Launch Prepaid Visa Cards in the US

New York-based Metropolitan Commercial Bank and Foris Inc., a Jacksonville, Florida-headquartered affiliate of digital asset wallet provider Crypto.com, are preparing to issue Visa crypto debit cards in the United States. The announcement comes after Crypto.com, a Hong Kong-based company formerly known as Monaco, recently launched its Mco Visa card program in Singapore.

The prepaid cards, which have no annual, monthly and ATM withdrawal fees, can be ordered from the wallet and card app of the cryptocurrency payment platform. The application allows users to purchase, sell, store, send and track cryptocurrencies. Customers can also use it to spend their digital coins in stores accepting Visa through conversion to fiat money without being charged exchange fees.

Reservations for the Mco Visa cards can be made after users pass an onboarding process which includes ID verification. According to a press release, over 100,000 cards have already been reserved globally. With the wallet app, cardholders will be able to manage the card usage and their crypto and fiat transactions. They can also freeze and unfreeze their cards with a single tap at any moment.

Coinbase Wallet Updated

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has updated its Ethereum-based wallet to improve its looks and add new functionalities. According to an announcement on Twitter, all supported ERC20 tokens will now show up automatically, along with available values in local fiat currency. That means users will no longer need to manually add the tokens to their portfolios.

The California-based digital asset trading platform has also introduced a new crypto collectibles gallery integrated with Opensea and Rarebits to support hundreds of collectibles. Other changes include improved stability, security, and better gas price estimation. The wallet app has already been updated for iPhone users. The new version for Android phones is expected within the next few days.

Course Rewards Students With Coins

Aeternity, a company that manages smart contracts, has recently teamed up with peer-to-peer online learning platform Dacade to launch an introductory course for cryptocurrencies and blockchain. The free program is designed to educate users, developers and entrepreneurs on the basics of crypto-related technologies.

Furthermore, students who develop practical use cases will be rewarded with aeternity tokens. According to Coinmarketcap, the Aeternity coin (AE) currently sells for around $0.88. The first edition of the course is a non-technical introduction for beginners but the partners plan to soon form advanced learning communities for developers.

Tron Launches Dapp Development Program

Cryptocurrency project Tron (TRX) has unveiled a $1 million program to support developers of decentralized applications (dapps). The accelerator will distribute rewards among 56 teams developing dapps and products based on the Tron protocol.

According to an announcement, the initiative is aimed at supporting the spread of blockchain technologies among users. It comes after Tron recently bought the file-sharing service Bittorrent, the payment service Poppy and launched its Atlas project.

The winners of the three “grand prizes” will divide a pool of $550,000. Another eight “special prizes” of $30,000 will be awarded to leading projects in several categories, and 42 teams will receive “finalist prizes” worth $5,000 each.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Crypto.com.

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